1. Technical Field
This disclosure relates to networked systems. Embodiments relate to the field of Internet-based streaming video and Internet-based live streaming of user-generated content.
2. Related Art
Many websites exist that relate to user-generated video content. YouTube.com is the most notable example of pre-rendered video files that are available for viewing by the Internet community at-large. As well, YouTube has introduced a “live” streaming channel where they hand-select well-known YouTube content generators and give them a live context in which to broadcast. The broadcast emanates from the YouTube studios and is managed and controlled by YouTube staff. The audience has no control over the broadcasters, and broadcasters are pre-decided by YouTube staff and given specific timeslots.
Other “live” streaming sites include Justin.tv, Ustream.tv, and Blogtv.com. These sites specialize in enabling an average Internet user with a webcam to broadcast to their user community. For example, Ustream.tv has over 1.5 million individual broadcasting accounts (at the time of this writing). It is up to the individual broadcaster to augment their audience size. Individual broadcasters do not contend for a single broadcasting resource nor have any interaction with each other. Audience interaction is limited to a real-time text chat interface among other minor features (e.g., co-resident video of an audience member resulting in a pseudo group video chat experience).
Other analogous services to individual broadcast channels exist in the adult content area and have similar features.